Health
and Human BodyYoungsters discover that their bodies are
made up of bones during this activity by Debra R.

Materials: An enlarged picture of a human
skeleton and colored math sticks or toothpicks.

Description: I have a skeleton hanging in
the classroom near the area we call the doctors office or hospital which
we make and decorate from a large TV box.Inside, there is a examing table, which
is really a children's changing table with a baby on it. I also have a
children's medical cart, which includes band-aids, cotton balls, real x-rays,
craft sticks and gauze.

For centers, I have a doctor center. Children
sit down, a few at a time and we review about the human skeleton and then
I give them the enlarged picture sheet, the sticks and glue. They are so
thrilled when they are done.

Comments: Do not give them any very small
items, which they could place in their mouth and they must be closely supervised.

The
BodyEnoka S. offers
several activities to help youngsters learn the parts of the body.

Materials: A large
roll of paper, pencil and scissors.

Description: Take large
roll of paper. Draw the outline of a child lying on the paper. The teacher
or child draws the parts of the body; the head, the face, arms, shoulders,
legs and feet. Talk about the different parts of the body and teach
the following song;

Head and shoulders,
knees and toes, knees and toes, knees and toes;Head and shoulders,
knees and toes, knees and toesAnd eyes and ears
and mouth and nose;Head and shoulders,
knees and toes, knees and toes.

Teach
the plurals: Two hands, two arms,
two legs and two feet.

Description: Teacher: Move your
arm.Children move only
one arm.Teacher: Move both
your arms.Children move both
arms.Practice with the
other parts of the body.

Game:
Play this game with cut out parts of the body.

Place colored parts of
the body in the middle of the table.

The teacher calls out
"Take an arm."

Children have to quickly
take the right part of the body.

Teacher: "Take two legs"
and so on.

Art Activity:
Children make a funny collage by cutting out different parts of the body
from magazines and sticking them together to make a funny picture.

Play
another a game: Use
all the parts of the body learned so far, such as head, shoulders, knees,
toes, arms, hands, legs, feet, eyes, mouth and nose.

If you're
happy and you know it, clap your hands,If you're happy and
you know it, clap your hands.If you're happy and
you know it and you really want to show it,If you're happy and
you know it clap your hands.

Next verses:2. If
you're happy and you know it, Snap your fingers...3. If
you're happy and you know it, Nod your head...4. If
you're happy and you know it, stamp your feet.....5. If
you're happy and you know it, say O.K...6. If
you're happy and you know it do all five....

What
Our Bodies Can Do!Viya S. helps older preschoolers
discover what their bodies can do while learningnew vocabulary words (verbs) and creating
sentences.

Description:First we played an action game with the
familiar tune: Here We Go Looby Loo. Then I
asked the children "What can the parts of your body do?" There were verydifferent answers and we tried all of the
movements. We had prepared cut out shapes: circles,
rectangles- narrow and long and short. .I showed on the board what happens
when we bend our knee or hand or turn around so that you can't see a face..I placed the shapes together to make a
person. Later they drew pictures of their friends,
or fathers and mothers. They also drew other things like balls and chairs.
Some youngsters drew ropes, dogs, swings and slides. Children in my group can already read and
write so it was easy to write sentencessuch as: I like to run, jump, swim, slide,
and so on.

Comments: This activity can not be done is
one day, but it is very enjoyablebecause the children name so many things
that our bodies can do.

Here
is an Sensory Art Project.

Paint on a child's feet.Put the child's feet on paper facing opposite
way.Draw an antennae and it makes a butterfly.

Write this poem under it.

Beautiful Butterfly,Precious and Sweet,Strange how it looks just like_____'s FEET!!

FeetChildren compare the different sizes of
their feet (seriation) during this early childhood activity from Lisa K.

Materials: Roll of butcher paper, paint, children
in their bare feet.

Description: We read The
Foot Book by Dr. Seuss and then each child removes his
or her socks and shoes and steps into a small area of paint. They
then step onto the butcher paper and make their foot prints. We look
at all of the sizes of prints and then compare the sizes. Once the
feet are dry we cut them out and put them in order by size.

Comments: Children love to step into the
paint and see who's feet are smaller orbigger. In advance let parents know about
this activity by sending a note home or speaking to them.

Fantastic
Feats with FeetDuring this early childhood activity by
Christine
S. the children will use their feet to pick up objects.

Description: The children will predict if
they can pick up items with their hands,feet, neither, or both. Some items may require
1 or both hands or feet. Take turnsobserving who can do what with their hands
and feet.

Hand
& Foot FlowersYoung children build fine motor skills and
practice tracing outside an object during this activity by Joyce.

Materials: Construction Paper in green and
desired flower colors.

Description: I trace the hands and shoes
of the children (older children cantrace their own or work with partners.
Partnering makes this a great lesson inco-operation as well) Children can
cut out their own hand and footprints,or I cut them out for younger children.
The hands then become the flowers and the feet become the leaves.
Just add a green stem.

I've also used this activity with painted
hand prints. I use a large paint brush to paint each child's hand
in a color they choose, then print the hand prints on white paper. I cut
around the painted hand prints and use them as a spring bulletin boarddisplay.

This is a great tactile experience and the
kids just love having their hand painted. I like it because it provides
me with an opportunity to spend a minute or two of one-on-one time with
each child

Finger
FlicksChristine S. suggests this activity
saying, "The child will predict which finger is most accurate when flicking
small items."

Materials: small items to flick (checkers,
marbles, etc.)

Description: The child will flick items with
the
finger they predicted would flick the furthest. Talk about the distance
(far, farther, farthest) when compared to other children. Talk about which
finger is the strongest (strong, stronger, strongest).

Staying
HealthyHelp pre-schoolers understand the
importance of taking care of their health with this early childhood activity
by Cathy P.

Materials: Spray bottle with water and a
tissue. Hotel sample size shampoo, a bar of soap and pocket size
tissues.

Description: I am fortunate to have a sister
who is a nurse. She comes to visit dressed in her nurses scrubs and talks
to the students about eating right, getting a lot of sleep and washing
hands. Then she talks about how germs are spread by people who cough and
sneeze without covering their mouths or noses with tissues.

She then does a demonstration by spraying
a fine mist of water and explains that those are like droplets of water
that come out of ones mouth and nose when one sneezes or coughs and get
in the air for others to breathe and possibly catch their cold if they
are ill. Then she holds up the tissue and sprays again. The tissue stops
the "germs" from spreading and she immediately throws the tissue in the
garbage.

The children all know to "catch" their sneezes
and coughs with a tissue! She then passes out their own individual baggie
with a bar of soap, tissues and shampoo. The children are delighted! Comment: I
have been able to get local hotels to give me soaps and shampoo and pocket packs of tissues for each child when
I have explained that it was for my preschool class.

HealthElaine M. suggest this activity to
guide children in self care when sick.

Materials: Paper plate, crayons, white paper,
tissues.

Description: I have a song to share with
the children when a lot of coughing andsneezing is happening in the classroom.

In this house, (form
roof with arms above head) There is a room (hold
hands parallel in front of you,) And in this room there is a bed (bend
left arm at elbow and fingers of right hand touch left
elbow) And in this bed is a little teddy
bear (make circle with fingers of each hand and place on head
for ears) With a very bad cold in his head (tap
head) With a very bad cold in his head (tap
head) Now if this little teddy bear (ears) Stays in bed and he takes care (elbow,
fingers for bed) Very soon he'll be running all about,
(fingers move) With no more cold in his head (shake
finger back and forth) With no more cold in his head (shake
finger back and forth)Ah, CHOO!

At this point, we consider how to make sure
the germs do not go flying all overto get other people sick, use tissue to
cover nose and mouth and wipe fingers;"Where do we put the kleenex when it is
used?"

Comments: For craft; use crayons or scraps
of paper to create face for teddywith paper plate as his face. Cut
out ears. Cut strips for arms and glue atissue at end of one arm.

Boo
Boo BearAmy C. suggests this activity, for
Toddlers and three year old children, to encourage the concept of helping
others along with some simple fine motor skills.

Description: Cut teddy bear shapes from the
brown paper and eyes, noses andmouths from the black and pink paper. Draw
dots on the bears where each facial feature will be placed.

Give each child a bear shape, two eyes, a
nose and a mouth and go through gluingthe features on together. Talk about
where our (or the bear's) eyes, nose andmouth are. Show the children where
the dots are and talk about where the features belong, but allow them to
put their bear's face together however they choose. Place bears aside to
dry.

At circle time give each child their bear
and a Band Aid. Encourage the children to discuss how they feel when
they fall and get a "boo-boo" and the things they can do for their
friends when they fall.

Tell the children their bears fell and hurt
themselves and ask them what theycan do for their bears. Let them decide
where their bear's boo-boo is and place the Band Aid on it. Encourage
them to console their bear.

Comments: I use this activity with both a
toddler group and 3 year old groups.I hang the bears on the wall @ the children's
eye level and we refer to themoften when handling a situation where the
children aren't being very good friends.It is a good way to bring back that lesson's
theme whenever it is needed.

Story
and Sensory Motor Activity Tammy B. offers this pre-k activity
saying, "Children will listen to a story and usetheir sensorimotor skills. Good listening
skills will be demonstrated by doing theactivity."

Materials: Barney and Baby Bop Go
To The Doctor from the "Barney To Go" series of books.

Description: Teachers read Barney and
Baby Bop Go To The Doctor. Then have the children stand and
play "Doctor See, Doctor Do" (Idea from Monkey See, Monkey Do).
Use body parts, for example: Doctor See, Doctor Do, I can touch my head,
how about you? Continue using otherbody parts.

Comments: My children loved this activity!

Self
Awareness Game During this activity by Missydee
children will expressively and receptively identifybody parts.

Materials: A large pre made person with small
pieces of velcro on different parts ofthe body, band aids with a small piece of
velcro attached to the back, small 'playingcards' with pictures of body parts on them.

Description: Children take turns reaching
in a bag and pulling out a card and saying
"I found a _____" and then putting a band aid on that body part

Body
TracingTry this preschool and kindergarten activity
by Darlene J. to help youngsters learn about their bodies.

Description: Have two children take turns
tracing each others bodies. Then givethem the materials listed above to decorate
their tracings with!

Height
ChartThe children will see the differences between
their heights and their friends' heightsduring this preschool activity by Mary
R.

Materials: A long sheet of butcher paper,
markers, Parent helpers and children.

Description: We put up the butcher paper
on a long blank wall. We lined thechildren up by height and had then back
up against the paper. With the help of the parents, traced the children
on to the butcher paper. The children then filled in eyes, ears, nose,
mouth, hair etc. Some children even added waving hands and teeth. They
had fun and learned about the differences. We do anecdotal observations,
so had some great observations on self image and drawing with details.

Comments: You could use anything to make
the drawing look like the kids; yarn,fabric etc.

Self
PortraitsJennifer S. encourages body part
recognition and fine motor skills during this early childhood activity.

Materials: White construction paper
and markers or crayons.

Description: Starting at the beginning of
the school year, pull out these items once a month for the whole school
year and tell the children to draw a picture of themselves using the markers.
In the bottom corner, write the child's name and the date of the drawing.
File these pictures away, and at the end of the year bind the pictures
together to send home. This makes a great keepsake for the
family and it shows the development of their child fine motor skills.
It is truly amazing how detailed the children get by the end of the year!